Colborn brothers out for wrestling gold

By Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor/The Daily News

Published: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 10:00 AM.

A freshman with freshman jitters, Andrew, who was 31-10 at the time, was pinned 48 seconds into the second period by East Burke junior Marvin Gaither, who was 43-11 and headed to the 170 finals, where he lost to Piedmont’s Parker VonEgidy.

VonEgidy happens to be one of the two wrestlers who beat brother Kyle this year, earning a 7-2 decision.

Andrew, who was 34-12 last year, went on to advance to the consolation finals, where he lost to Wheatmore junior Skylar Hicks 2-1 to finish fourth. Hicks finished 45-7.

Hicks (37-0) is in the state championships this year at 195 and would meet Kyle in the finals if both advance that far.

Being in the state championships last year should help him this time around, Andrew said.

“You always want to do better. I definitely think it’s better, not better, but it’s a good thing I took fourth because it just makes me push harder to get better than fourth place this time. Hopefully, I’ll take first,” he said.

“The key is the first match. Everybody preaches, ‘It’s the first match. you’ve got to win the first match. The first match is the toughest match.’ And it truly is. Once you get by that first match, it’s not easy, but it’s easier because you’re used to it. You’re used to the atmosphere. You’re used to the noise. You’re used to everything. You’ve just got to get by the first match.”

Sounds like a law firm or home renovation company, right? Colborn & Sons? Nah, it has more the ring of a pair of siblings whose life story should be written by an old Russian author with a long, disheveled beard.

Or a pair of hard-nosed youngsters belonging to a rasslin’ clan, but in the case of the Colborns it’s wrestling — the real thing.

And the Colborns?

Make no mistake about it, they’re the real deal, case closed.

Meet 18-year-old Kyle Colborn and his younger brother, Andrew, 16. They are two of the stalwarts of Croatan High School’s ultra successful wrestling program who go into the NCHSAA 2-A wrestling championships that begin today ranked No. 1 in the state in their weight class by retrorankings.com.

Kyle is No. 1 at 195 pounds and is 58-2, with his two loses by decisions to foes and who are nationally ranked and defending state champions — one in the 3-A class. And Andrew is No. 1 at 170 pounds and is 57-6, with all six of his losses coming when he moved up to 182.

Both have been to the state championships before. Kyle finished third in 2011 at 189 as a sophomore and second last year at 195. His brother was fourth in 2012 at 170 as a freshman, falling in his first match to a junior who advanced to the finals.

Can they bring home the gold Saturday night when the championships are decided at the Greensboro Coliseum? Yes, coach David Perry said. You bet, the Brothers Colborn said during an interview Tuesday before practice.

Beyond that, it would be a golden moment they’d never forget.

“It would be phenomenal,” Kyle said. “If we both go out there and do what we’re supposed to do, it should happen. If it happens, that would just be phenomenal. There’s no other way to put it. It would be immaculate. That’d be great.”

Kyle’s confidence is not only understandable but reflective of his personality on the mat, which is a take-no-prisoner, get-it-done and get-it-done now approach. His brother, on the other hand, was a bit more cautious, perhaps because he’s two years younger or perhaps because he’s just a bit more laid back.

“It would be an experience, that’s for sure,” Andrew said. “I’ve only heard of a couple brothers in the same year winning a state championship. So it’s definitely exciting, something to look forward to. Hopefully, it can happen.”

If they do it, they will likely to it in different ways, at least based on their track record on the mat. Of the elder Colborn’s 58 wins, 41 have come via a pin, 12 more than Andrew has in his 57 wins.

But that’s not where the real difference exists.

Of Kyle’s 41 pins, 27 have come in the first 1:07 of the match, and all but five of his pins have been recorded in the first two-minute period. On the other hand, of Andrew’s 29 pins, less than a third (9) have come in the opening period, and just six in the first 1:07.

“They are similar in some ways,” Perry said. “They have some of the same techniques they use, but then different. Andrew is a little more calculating in how he wrestles. He’s a little more take his time. Kyle is full bore from the minute he steps on the mat. He likes to go out there and get the job done.”

Or if Kyle is like a hungry dog with a bone, Andrew is like your house cat toying with a mouse. Both get the job done, it’s just their approach fits their own personality and style.

“We’re different,” Kyle said. “I’m more of, I don’t want to say brawler, but I’m more of a get-after-it kind of style, and Andrew’s more like you come to me, let me wait, I’m going to beat you, I’m just going to counter you, and I’m more of a let me go take it, I’m not going to give you a chance to wrestle. Andrew doesn’t have a problem countering, and I like to get after it.”

That, Kyle said, was a lesson he learned from his father, Charles, who was made it to the state finals in wrestling in Pennsylvania as a high school senior.

“One thing my dad has always preached to us (was) never mess around on the mat,” he said. “You see people getting tech falls. I don’t like tech falls. One, you embarrass people and that’s not right. Two, if you can get the pin, get the pin. It’s just that’s the way it’s supposed to be done.”

Andrew agreed he was a more patient, calculating wrestler.

“I’m kind of more just sit back and wait for the guy to do something wrong and I counter that,” he said. “It’s not completely my personality, but most of the time I’m kind of laid back, don’t want to push anything.”

Unless he’s on the football field, where he played quarterback and outside linebacker for the Cougars while his brother was a running back and middle linebacker.

“I feel like my personality on the football field and the wrestling mat are just two completely different things,” Andrew said.

So what’s it like to have your brother not only wrestling on the same team as you but to face off against him every day in practice as well as after practice and at home in the living room, after you move the furniture out of the way?

“It’s a great experience,” Kyle said. “It’s more fun than I’ve ever had. It’s always competitive in the (practice) room, but when you’re wrestling with a family member, there’s another level of competitiveness and we just get after it a little bit more.”

Andrew seconded that.

“It’s great,” he said. “I love it. it’s going to be different next year, definitely a big change. It’s great.”

Kyle Colborn began wrestling, he said, as soon as he could walk. Heck, pop was probably wrestling with him before he put one foot in front of the other. And little brother followed right along, although until the last couple years they didn’t go shoulder to shoulder on the mat because Kyle was always bigger.

“Andrew kind of hit a growth spurt from his eighth grade to his ninth grade year,” Kyle said. “This is the first time we’ve been able to get together and actually wrestle all year. We wrestled a lot last year, but this year it’s been basically me and him in the room.”

And their contrasting styles, Andrew said, actually help each in practice, which ultimately makes both better when they take the mat for real. Also, they religiously review videos of each other’s matches to correct any mistakes.

“I’m willing to say 99 percent of the matches we wrestled this year we recorded and we go back and watch,” Kyle said. “We always critique everything each of us do. If it’s not 100 percent perfect, we say ‘OK, here’s what I saw.’”

And while Andrew gives as good as he gets, he said he did defer to a certain extent to his brother.

“We definitely critique each other,” Andrew said. “But he sometimes helps me more just because he’s older and he knows more about doing this right or doing that right.”

And while they’re best of buds and brothers, they’ve had their moments when they’ve gotten, shall we say, a bit overheated.

Hey, they are brothers, right?

“It wouldn’t be right to lie to you and tell you we’ve never gotten into a couple fights,” Kyle said. “Yeah, it’s happened before. Someone threw his cross face a little hard or someone throws an elbow ‘accidentally’

“But we have a good mentality when we do it. I think it makes us better. It makes us tougher. Those fights, the scraps we get into makes us better persons not only on the mat but off the mat. So I think it helps us in the long run.”

Again, Andrew backed up his brother’s view.

“It’s definitely a good thing to get into an argument or sometimes a little brawl,” he said. “But it gets us straightened out definitely.”

Good year, hoping for great

Both brothers agree they’ve had a good year. A great year, they said, would be bringing home a state title.

Toward that end, they haven’t forgotten what happened last year.

A freshman with freshman jitters, Andrew, who was 31-10 at the time, was pinned 48 seconds into the second period by East Burke junior Marvin Gaither, who was 43-11 and headed to the 170 finals, where he lost to Piedmont’s Parker VonEgidy.

VonEgidy happens to be one of the two wrestlers who beat brother Kyle this year, earning a 7-2 decision.

Andrew, who was 34-12 last year, went on to advance to the consolation finals, where he lost to Wheatmore junior Skylar Hicks 2-1 to finish fourth. Hicks finished 45-7.

Hicks (37-0) is in the state championships this year at 195 and would meet Kyle in the finals if both advance that far.

Being in the state championships last year should help him this time around, Andrew said.

“You always want to do better. I definitely think it’s better, not better, but it’s a good thing I took fourth because it just makes me push harder to get better than fourth place this time. Hopefully, I’ll take first,” he said.

“The key is the first match. Everybody preaches, ‘It’s the first match. you’ve got to win the first match. The first match is the toughest match.’ And it truly is. Once you get by that first match, it’s not easy, but it’s easier because you’re used to it. You’re used to the atmosphere. You’re used to the noise. You’re used to everything. You’ve just got to get by the first match.”

Kyle’s experience was a bit different last year. He was one of three Cougars who made it to the finals — and lost, snapping a streak of three straight years in which Croatan won at least one title and a combined total of five.

Kyle won his first match 9-1 and won with a pin at 4:48 in his second before edging senior Tyler Benfield of Newton-Conover 3-0 to advance to the finals against Trinity senior Cameron King. King won 5-0 to win the 195-pound title and finish 40-0 while Kyle wound up 27-1.

“I’m really excited. It hurt really bad last year. It hurt bad as a team last year. We were runner-up last year (in the team dual team playoffs). We were runner-up again this year. So that’s enough fuel as it is,” Kyle said.

“But then for myself to lose it and two of my other best friends and teammates to lose it there (in the finals), I’m running on a lot of fuel from last year still. I got a lot of push right now. I’m really excited it being my last tournament.

“And I’ve got a little extra push. My dad, who’s wrestled with us since we were little, got beat in the state finals his senior year. So I’ve got to get one up on him any chance I get.”